Republican New York state Assemblyman Joseph Errigo was charged Wednesday with taking a bribe to introduce legislation that would have helped a developer.

Errigo appeared briefly in U.S. District Court on counts of bribery and fraud. The judge released him without imposing bail.

The 79-year-old Errigo is accused of accepting at least $5,500 to introduce a bill in the Assembly in March that would have reduced local control over a Rochester-area project by allowing the state Department of Transportation to review it and weigh in.